Joël Cormier

Contact Information

Joël first studied percussion under Michel Deschenes at the Université de Moncton where he finished his BA. Mus in music performance. Afterwards, he moved to Toronto to study percussion at the University of Toronto under Beverly Johnston, John Rudolph and Russell Hartenberger where he finished his M. Mus and DMA.
During his time in Toronto, Joël played with various orchestras including the Kingston Symphony, Peterborough Symphony, Brampton Symphony and the Esprit Orchestra. He also participated in many music festivals including the New Music Festival and Nuit Blanche.
Joël released his first solo percussion CD, “Les voiles blanches” in 2012. The album features two well known New Brunswick composers: Richard Gibson and Christian Hébert.
Joël is also a founding member of the Sonore Percussion Trio, which made its debut in 2009. The Toronto based ensemble is dedicated to new sounds and new music having commissioned two new percussion pieces since its creation.
Joël has been awarded numerous prizes including the winner the University of Toronto Concerto Competition, the Star of the festival in the New Brunswick Competitive Festival of Music and the winner of CBC's Jeunes Artistes competition.
Along with teaching percussion at Mount Allison, Joël is also timpanist for Symphony New Brunswick.

Education

Doctor of Musical Arts, Major in Percussion Performance, University of Toronto, 2011Master of Music, Major in Percussion Performance, University of Toronto, 2006Bachelor of Music, Major in Percussion Performance, Université de Moncton, 2004

Grants, awards, & honours

Winner of the University of Toronto Concerto Competition, 2005Winner of the Star of the Festival award, New Brunswick Competitive Festival of Music, 2004Winner of CBC's Jeunes Artistes Competition, 2004Pascal-Poirier Prize of Excellence from l'Université de Moncton, 2004

Teaching

Applied music (percussion)

Research interests

Percussion literatureAcadian folk music with specialty in accordion music